Tourism, or sightseeing, is a vast industry with worldwide demand for various types of tourism exceeding 100 million persons each year. Traditional means of tourism have inherent limitations, such as time and lack of resources, imposed by the need for the tourist to be physically located at the destination of interest. Virtual tourism supplements and augments traditional tourism by evoking the experience of exploring another physical destination without the need for an individual to physically travel to that destination. Moreover, virtual tourism is not limited to recreation tours of urban, historical, cultural and other attractions, but can also encompass many other applications where the individual has a desire to explore a different physical space without actually being there.
There are numerous technical challenges associated with implementing an open-ended virtual sightseeing system that allows an end-user to explore at will. A major challenge is implementing the ability to sense all of the features of a physical space so as to enable the full virtual recreation of that environment. It is difficult to acquire the full range of sightseeing data without being limited by prior constraints. Moreover, current technologies such as fixed web-enabled cameras and satellite imaging are insufficient for such open-ended data acquisition for virtual sightseeing purposes. For example, it is difficult for cameras positioned at fixed locations at the time of installation to accommodate the wide variety of vantage points that are of potential interest during virtual sightseeing. Furthermore, systems of positioned cameras are ill-suited for covering large spaces as might be required for outdoor sightseeing applications. And while global imaging satellites can cover large areas, they are not well-suited for virtual sightseeing because of limited surface resolution.
Accordingly, there is a need for virtual sightseeing systems and methods that allow open-ended exploration of a region of interest without being limited by prior constraints on data acquisition.
It should be noted that the figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions are generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. It also should be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the preferred embodiments. The figures do not illustrate every aspect of the described embodiments and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.